


bungee boy

by ijd00



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mentioned Lee Taeyong, background dotae, brief appearance by doyoung, doyoung really wants that keurig, lucas is just along for the ride, mark does a shit ton of backflips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 09:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20776235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ijd00/pseuds/ijd00
Summary: Mark flips himself in the air and into Donghyuck’s heart. All in the name of Doyoung’s Keurig.





	bungee boy

Working the outside shift wasn’t exactly in Donghyuck’s plans when he volunteered to work his school’s bi-annual night long celebration. It’s one of their traditions, every semester, the whole school throws a party that lasts until the wee hours of morning. It’s a great way to relax and a good way to introduce all of the freshmen to the Student Government, which plans the whole affair.

This semester, the theme is outer space, chosen by his best friend Jaemin. Jaemin’s also the only reason Donghyuck is working instead of enjoying the festivities for himself. A week before the event was set to take place, Jaemin burst into their dorm and begged him to help. He even busted out his puppy eyes which he knew Donghyuck was weak for. That bastard.

As part of the outer space theme, Jaemin had rented bungee jumps. Something about how it could simulate being in outer space, like someone bouncing on the Moon. Donghyuck wasn't exactly paying attention the whole time Jaemin had been rambling. The bungee jumps aren't the kind where a person jumps off a building and free falls, but the ones like in a mall where a person is strapped in, raised, and bounces off an inflatable landing. Jaemin had been so excited when he’d stumbled across the attraction that he'd sent no less than about a hundred texts to their group chat.

Jaemin had to fight their school to even get the bungee jump, looking up statistics and injury rates like a mad man. Originally, the school had said it would be too much of a liability, but Jaemin had been determined to prove them wrong. Donghyuck pitched in a couple of times with the research, trying to support his roommate’s struggle with bureaucracy. Eventually, Jaemin won the panel in charge of funding over and thus his baby, the bungee jump, was born.

Looking at it now, Donghyuck has to admit that the thing _is_ pretty cool. In total, there are four bungees and they’re all lined up next to each other in a row outside. After doing a preliminary check of the main building where the rest of the attractions are set up, Jaemin, Renjun, Jeno, and Donghyuck all go to check out the bungee jumps. Jaemin immediately volunteers to test it out and it's not before long that he’s bouncing away, occasionally doing flips.

He’s beaming brightly as he comes down and Donghyuck can’t help but grin in response. Jaemin spent so much time working on making sure this event would run perfectly that Donghyuck’s glad to see him finally smile after a stressful few weeks. So glad, that he almost forgets he was guilted into helping out and working instead of doing his calculus homework. Still, if Jaemin keeps beaming the way he is right now, Donghyuck might just find it in himself to forgive him later for making him stand outside where the potential to become sweaty is a little too high for his personal preferences.

“Jaem,” Jeno says, “How do you want to do ticketing for this?”

Another thing Student Government does is hand out tickets for students participating in the attractions. They can then use the tickets to bid on prize baskets, baskets that Donghyuck and Jaemin lovingly selected items for from a Walmart. They were on a budget okay? Those bungee jumps weren’t cheap.

Jaemin takes a moment to consider it, probably thinking about how many tickets the other events are going to give out before deciding.

“Give them two for actually bouncing, and then an additional two for doing a flip. Forward or backward, I’m not that picky.”

They all nod and then they get to their stations at the clock nears nine. Jeno is starting outside, then Renjun, then Donghyuck. He starts inside (with the blessed air conditioning), swiping kids in and keeping track of attendance. Jaemin’s aiming to draw the largest crowd ever in the history of this event and based solely on the amount of people Donghyuck’s heard talking about the event, he thinks Jaemin might just pull it off.

(It may also have to do with how attractive Jaemin is, but Donghyuck would never tell his roommate that.)

The night goes by relatively fast and when Donghyuck checks his schedule at the end of his shift, he sighs and makes his way outside. Mentally, he mourns the loss of air conditioning and curses his decision to go to a school where it’s always warm and just humid enough to be annoying. When he approaches Renjun to relieve him of duty, Renjun sighs in relief and all but shoves the roll of tickets in his hands.

“Some kid did twenty-six backflips in a row,” Renjun reports, “So I gave him seventeen tickets for the whole thing.”

Donghyuck’s eyes widen, “He did twenty-six? Holy shit.”

“Yeah,” Renjun agrees, “I explained how the ticketing worked after he did five and then he goes, ‘How many do I get if I do more?’ I told him I’d calculate after seeing how many he did and then boom, twenty-six.”

“Damn,” Donghyuck whistles, “The people Jaemin rented this from should have taken a video. They could use it in their marketing video or something.”

“Probably,” Renjun says, “I’m on ball pit duty with Jisung now. Wish me luck.”

Wincing in sympathy, Donghyuck waves Renjun off and then yells at a boy passing by to come and bounce. His tactic of shouting seems to work because he actually gets a decent amount of people who otherwise wouldn’t have attended to bounce and they happily make off with their tickets.

Donghyuck even goes up for a bit, messes around with flips, trying to convince himself the bungee cords aren’t going to break and kill him. Jeno comes outside for a while and films Donghyuck as he bounces and then flees when he compares him to a baby. After Donghyuck comes down, he texts Jeno and satisfies his anger with promises of sweet, sweet revenge.

*******

There’s a bit of a lull in attendance so Donghyuck sighs and takes a moment to breath in the fresh air. As he leans on the metal fence, Donghyuck’s attention is caught by two boys approaching the bungee jump, eyeing the contraption. One of them is fairly tall and lanky (still well built though, his shirt does nothing to hide his muscles), the other shorter with wide eyes and soft black hair. Donghyuck thinks the shorter one is pretty cute, but remembers his promise to forsake flirting in favor of promoting Jaemin’s baby.

“You should come bungee jump,” Donghyuck says, waving one of his hands in the general direction of the bungee jump, “You can hang, jump, do a couple of flips even. We had one kid do twenty-six in a row.”

The cute boy smiles at his last statement and says, “I know. That was me.”

Oh. That’s kinda awkward.

Donghyuck sends his best smile the boy’s way in order to cover up his blunder, “Oh. That’s cool. Uh, wanna do some more?”

The boy considers it for a second and then shrugs, “Sure. Doyoung-hyung really wants that Keurig. He practically runs on coffee and this is the easiest way I know to earn tickets.”

He steps up to the bungee jump and the worker straps him in while his friend cheers from the sidelines. The boy, (Bungee Boy, Donghyuck’s brain whispers) gets lifted and does a couple of tentative jumps to reacquaint himself. Then he signals to get lifted even higher so that he dangles in midair. That’s interesting. Most of the people who have done flips have simply bounced off of the ground, using the momentum to turn themselves over. It's definitely the easiest way to do a flip, and makes doing more than one easy as well since all the person has to do is time their downward momentum right to continue going.

Instead of doing that though, Bungee Boy swings himself back and forth a bit to generate momentum and then begins to _flip_. Donghyuck’s pretty sure his mouth drops open as the boy keeps flipping over and over and over. Being off the ground, there's no feet hitting the ground, so Bungee Boy is just flipping with sheer abdominal power. It’s incredible. Donghyuck might be in love. The friend is keeping count out loud, and on twenty-five, Bungee Boy stops to take a moment.

Renjun said he gave the boy seventeen tickets in total, but Donghyuck is feeling generous (and seriously, this boy is cute _and_ athletic, what more could he possibly ask for) so he rips off fifteen for every five flips. The sheer amount of tickets he holds in his hands to give to Bungee Boy for his completed backflips makes his friend’s mouth drop open in shock.

“Bro,” he yelps, “This is so many!”

Bungee Boy nods dazedly from where he’s hanging, “Mhmm. We’re definitely going to win the Keurig for Doyoung-hyung.”

“I’d feel kind of bad for you if you didn’t win at this point,” Donghyuck muses.

He hands the tickets over to the friend, watching as he clicks the pen he pulled out of his pants pocket and starts writing. He’s certainly got a lot of tickets to work through, might as well start now.

“Thanks,” Bungee Boy says, “I’m gonna go for fifty.”

“You’re going for what?” Donghyuck asks incredulously.

“Fifty,” he says with a determined nod, “It will be done.”

His friends nods solemnly in response from his position next to Donghyuck, “Do it for Doyoung-hyung and his unhealthy addiction.”

Donghyuck almost asks why they’re fueling their friend’s addictions when he remembers that he bought Jaemin his battery acid coffee this morning after Jeno refused. He might be a lot of things, by a hypocrite he is not. Anything Jisung says on the contrary is blasphemy and should be considered defamation of character.

Bungee Boy takes a deep breath and then launches himself into another series of back flips. Like a possessed man, he continues to flip and flip and flip and flip. Donghyuck joins in with the friend as they count how many flips are being done. By the time Bungee Boy begins to approach forty, he seems to be running out of steam, doing each flip progressively slower and slower. Still, he powers through the final ten and then requests to be let down.

He all but collapses on the inflatable landing and closes his eyes, taking in deep breaths. Donghyuck starts counting tickets. Next to him, his friend groans and flexes his wrist before continuing to write. After he passes off the tickets, looping them around the guy's neck, Donghyuck reaches into the bin next to him and grabs a water bottle. Time to make an even better impression.

“Do you want some water?” Donghyuck offers, making sure to use his best smile.

When the boy cracks open an eye and nods, Donghyuck throws the bottle and then cringes when it smacks the boy straight in the face. Right. He’s probably still dizzy from doing flips. Bungee Boy’s hand eye coordination is definitely not working. So much for his better impression.

“Oh my god,” Donghyuck says, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” the boy sighs, “Probably didn’t help my headache but don’t worry about it.”

He sits up to take a sip of the water and scrunches his nose in a way that makes Donghyuck want to both coo and grab him and never let go. Bungee Boy watches his friend frantically scribble the same name (Doyoung presumably) over and over again, not even bothering to try and help.

Instead, he pulls his phone out and types a couple things in before looking back up. Bungee Boy stares at the bungee jump in contemplation once more, seemingly thinking something through. Donghyuck can practically hear the gears turning in his brain and finds himself wanting to know every thought that Bungee Boy thinks. It's only a little bit gross.

“I’m only fourteen away from a hundred and twenty,” he says, brandishing his phone where the calculator app is visibly open.

He has a Galaxy. Adorable.

“Are you going to do it?” Donghyuck asks interested.

Bungee Boy nods, “Yes. For the Keurig.”

Whoever this Doyoung is, he must seriously love coffee because the next thing he knows, Bungee Boy is back in the air and flipping. His friend just groans at the thought of more tickets to write on. Donghyuck wonders what kind of abdominal muscles this boy must have. He sort of (most definitely) wants to find out.

“Dude,” the friend calls, “You are so helping me fill these out later.”

Donghyuck considers handing him the entire roll of tickets and calling it a night. Clearly no one else is doing it like Bungee Boy, on both the bungee jump and in competition for Donghyuck's heart. Still, Jaemin would probably kill him for just handing the roll over so he restrains himself and instead presents the friend with even more tickets and another winning grin.

As he goes back inside, Bungee Boy sends Donghyuck a cute little wave and smile, and Donghyuck curses and tells his heart to stop beating so fast.

*******

At almost one-thirty, there’s pretty much no one left outside except for Donghyuck and the workers. When they ask if he wants to go up again, he shrugs and agrees. They raise him to the highest setting and Donghyuck just sort of dangles there, staring out at his, for once, quiet campus. He tries to get some more people to come bungee jump, but most of them ignore him.

He wonders what Bungee Boy is majoring in and where he lives both on and off campus. Donghyuck has never seen him before around campus, not even in passing, and even though there are a fair amount of people and he was bound to not know everyone, he doesn't know how he missed Bungee Boy before. Because there's no way Donghyuck has a seen a boy that cute (and sweet) around and not remembered him. He also wonders if they share any mutual friends and just happened to keep missing each other, destined instead to meet at the bungee jumps. Donghyuck might be getting a little bit ahead of himself there in his fantasies, but still. Bungee Boy is really cute, sue him.

The sound of footsteps interrupts his thoughts and Donghyuck looks down to see Bungee Boy once again. He sends him a wave and a smile so bright it could rival the sun, and then watches in disbelief as he moves to get hooked into the bungee jump. Once they’re hanging next to each other, Donghyuck takes the initiative to talk. RIP to Jaemin’s no flirting rule, but Donghyuck’s not about to pass up this opportunity. Not with a boy this cute.

“Seriously Bungee Boy?” Donghyuck laughs teasingly, “One hundred and twenty backflips wasn’t enough for you?”

Bungee Boy flushes a pretty shade of pink as the attendant starts to strap him in, “I just want to see how many I can do.”

“Is this like something you do a lot or a previously undiscovered talent?” Donghyuck asks.

“Previously undiscovered talent,” Bungee Boy responds.

Donghyuck shrugs, “Well, makes for a cool party trick I guess.”

“Not sure when this opportunity would come up again but yeah sure,” he says.

They hang there in silence for a couple minutes and Donghyuck takes the time to observe Bungee Boy’s side profile. He’s quite cute and Donghyuck finds himself wondering yet again how he’s never seen this boy on campus before. He briefly entertains the possibility that Bungee Boy is just visiting for the night, considering the fact that he’s been doing all these flips for someone else and sincerely hopes not. It then occurs to him that Bungee Boy might be doing this for his boyfriend, but then the boy turns to him and all thoughts vanish from his mind.

Bungee Boy is giving him a soft smile, definitely not the kind of smile you would give someone if you already had a boyfriend. Or girlfriend. Shit. Bungee Boy might not even be into guys. Still though. The smile. Bungee Boy is smiling that same smile at him, and it makes Donghyuck feel warm and fuzzy inside. God, he’s literally so cute, who gave him the right.

“I think I’m going to start flipping now,” he says absentmindedly.

“By all means Bungee Boy, go right ahead,” Donghyuck replies with a wave of his hand in his direction.

With that, Bungee Boy takes off, his shirt riding up each time he goes upside down. Up close, he can see Bungee Boy’s face turning red as he continues to do backflips. They make eye contact and Bungee Boy flushes even more, losing some of his momentum. He stops after the next flip and simply hangs there, just like Donghyuck. One hundred and twenty seven.

“By the way,” he says, “My name is Mark. Not Bungee Boy.”

Mark. It’s a nice name. It fits him.

“Okay Bungee Boy,” Donghyuck says, “My name is Donghyuck.”

Mark sighs but nods and sticks out his hand for a handshake. Donghyuck stares at it and then gives him a high five.

“What year are you?” Donghyuck asks, “I’m a sophomore.”

“Junior,” Mark says, “I don't think I've seen you around before.”

“Same,” Donghyuck comments, “What major are you? Maybe we're always on opposite sides of campus.”

“Music,” Mark replies, “You?”

“Theater most likely,” Donghyuck says, “I haven’t formally declared yet. Those departments are super close to each other, it’s weird we haven’t seen each other around.”

Mark hums in agreement and the two fall into a comfortable silence. Mark’s hand is dangling in the space between them and Donghyuck narrowly resists the urge to reach out and hold it.

“So what’s with your friend and the Keurig?”

Mark looks over at him and snorts, “Doyoung-hyung? He’s a grad student and literally lives off of coffee. He must drink about a million cups a day, it's a wonder his blood hasn't been replaced with the stuff. He used to have access to a Keurig all the time, but Taeyong-hyung graduated last year and took the machine with him, so now hyung wants one for himself.”

Donghyuck stares, “He couldn’t go out and buy one?”

Shrugging, Mark replies, “I mean the one tonight is technically free. He'll definitely buy one tomorrow if he doesn’t win though, he’s not going to make it otherwise.”

Interesting. This still doesn’t explain why Mark is willing to potentially throw up for something that he ultimately will not benefit from. There is the possibility that this Doyoung will share the machine, but based on what Mark’s told him so far, the chances aren’t high.

“But then why are you doing a bunch of back flips to help him win and not go for anything yourself?”

“Ah,” Mark says, “Because Doyoung-hyung is dating Taeyong-hyung, who happens to be my brother. We’re pretty much family, and being family means doing stupid shit to get each other free stuff.”

Donghyuck blinks. That addresses the question of Mark is homophobic or not. Or at the very least, okay with being around people who aren't straight. To be fair, it means nothing when it comes to Mark's actual sexuality, but it’s nice knowing that he isn’t a complete asshole. Still, that doesn’t mean Donghyuck isn’t nosy and isn’t going to ask probing questions about Mark’s personal life to scope out if he’s interested in him or not.

“By the way,” Donghyuck adds, “Who was the guy you were with? Your boyfriend?”

“Lucas?” Mark asks, eyebrows raising in surprise, “God no. Lucas is my best friend and roommate. There will literally never be anything between us. No offense to him or anything, he’s a great guy.”

Right okay. Glad he got that out of the way. Before he gets to ask his next personal question, probably something stupid like, "Hey what's your type?", Mark asks a question of his own.

“Why?” Mark asks, “Because if you’re interested in him, I gotta let you know that he’s kind of already in a relationship.”

Donghyuck is very tempted to smack himself in the head. Or maybe smack Mark. If he can’t tell that Donghyuck is into him, he might just be the most oblivious person on the planet. Seriously, he thinks Donghyuck calls every cute boy who bounced that night Bungee Boy, along with showing them his best smile? Nicknames are a sure sign of flirting, and Donghyuck's smiles are reserved for cute boys, and cute boys only.

“Um,” he says eloquently, “That’s good for him, but I wasn’t really interested in Lucas.”

_I was interested in you_ is what Donghyuck really wants to say, and based on the faint pink blush on Mark’s cheeks, he was able to pick up on the underlying message. Good. Maybe he isn't as oblivious as Donghyuck originally thought.

He ducks his head shyly and opens his mouth to respond when his phone starts buzzing angrily.

“Shit I gotta go that's Doyoung-hyung,” Mark yelps, “I’m so sorry, it was really, really, really nice talking to you Donghyuck. I hope to see you around.”

With that, Mark is lowered and freed, practically sprinting inside, frantically talking into his phone. Donghyuck didn’t even get to ask for his number.

*******

By the time Donghyuck walks back inside, they’re just about to call the prize basket winners. He spots Mark standing with Lucas and another skinny boy who, by the way his eyes are staring lovingly at the spot on the table that the Keurig rests, must be Doyoung. He's still kind of upset Mark ran off without Donghyuck being able to ask for his number, but hopefully he can change that soon.

He sees Jaemin stand up on a chair to call out the winners and turns his attention in that direction. Jeno lifts each basket as Jaemin calls out names, parading it around so everyone can have a good look. Donghyuck half listens as Jaemin calls out the names and then snaps to attention when it’s time for the Keurig. Doyoung's hands are clenched tightly around Mark's arm and Donghyuck swears he sees a hint of genuine panic in his eyes at the thought of not winning. Mark turns suddenly and spots Donghyuck, sending him a brief smile that Donghyuck responds to with another bright grins of his own.

“Kim Doyoung?” Jaemin reads off, squinting to read the handwriting.

Donghyuck watches as Doyoung shouts in victory and goes to collect his prize. Mark sighs in relief, both from his freed arm and the fact that his efforts were not in vain, and Donghyuck makes his way over to him.

“I love how you did all the work and your friend is the one who gets the prize,” Donghyuck comments, watching as Doyoung honest to god hugs the coffee machine.

“Well,” Mark says sheepishly, “I met you. And that’s enough of a prize for me.”

Donghyuck’s jaw drops open as he feels himself blushes. Mark is apparently feeling very bold right now He likes it.

“Sorry if that was too forward,” Mark says quickly, “Uh, I just thought you were cute you know? Like, I was going to stop doing flips after I did one hundred and twenty but you were really nice and pretty, and so I went back out hoping you were there and then did some more flips to try and impress you. Okay I’ve said too much I’m going to shut up now.”

He never wants Mark to shut up. Donghyuck tells him as much and smirks in satisfaction as it’s Mark’s turn to flush red.

“Can I get your number?” Mark asks, reaching into his back pocket, “I really do want to get to know you better, maybe over coffee or something. It probably won't be from the Keurig, but to be honest you probably won't want to be around hyung during midterm week anyway.”

Donghyuck smiles his prettiest smile (the one Jaemin says is his hyung-killer) and takes Mark’s phone, saving his number under “Donghyuck ♡”. He gives Mark his phone in exchange and laughs when Mark hands it back. He’s saved his name in Donghyuck’s phone as “Bungee Boy.”

Across the room, Doyoung may look like he’s going to leave Taeyong in favor of his new Keurig, but Donghyuck knows that without a doubt, he’s won the best prize of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Inspired by true events that actually took place at my university (minus the romance).  
\- Shout out to the real Bungee Boy for doing that many back flips and winning his friend the Keurig, that's some true friendship.  
\- I know I described Mark as cute a million times but he is and it needs to be said.  
\- Backflips are really hard to do.


End file.
